Lucy Garner
DPhil Student
Brief biography:
I completed my undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, specialising in cell and molecular biology. During this time, I undertook a number of short research projects, including in the lab of Dr Howard Baylis, where I explored novel genetic modifiers of Alzheimer’s disease, and in the lab of Dr Lisa Westerberg at the Karolinska Institutet, where I investigated the function of NK cells in patients with the immunodeficiency disorder Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome. It was this research experience at the Karolinska Institutet that sparked my interest in immunology and I have pursued this passion ever since.
Upon completion of my undergraduate degree, I worked as a Research Assistant in Professor Richard Cornall’s group at the University of Oxford (2013-2015), studying models of immunodeficiency disease and a novel class of “superagonistic” antibodies with therapeutic potential. In 2015, I was awarded a place on the Wellcome Trust Infection, Immunology, and Translational Medicine PhD programme and I am currently completing my DPhil research in Professor Paul Klenerman’s group.
Research interests:
Unconventional T cell populations, mucosal immunity.
Current project:
Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are a novel population of innate-like T cells with anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties. During my PhD, I am exploring the role of these cells in varied human tissues, including in the gut and liver. I am particularly interested in the transcriptional regulation of MAIT cell function and how this may be altered in inflammatory disease, for example inflammatory bowel disease.
Publications:
Llibre A, Garner L, Partridge A et al. Expression of lectin-like transcript-1 in human tissues [version 1; referees: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations]. F1000Research 2016, 5:2929 (doi: 10.12688/f1000research.10009.1)